Showing results by narrator "Richard Aspel" in All Categories

This stunning sequel to Adam's Empire, centred on his remote sheep station Kalinda, tracks the development of Adam's family. Having grown up as a poor orphan child, Adam finds himself financially secure, in love and a father. But Adam's new found bliss is short lived. His relationship with his lover, Nellie, collapses under societal pressure and lawyers are threatening to take away his young daughter. When WWII breaks out, Adam enlists in the army and finds himself stationed in Nazi-occupied Greece.

Known to millions of Australians simply as "Smithy", Sir Charles Kingsford Smith was one of Australia's true twentieth-century legends. In an era in which aviators were superstars, Smithy was among the greatest and, throughout his amazing career his fame in Australia was matched only by that of Don Bradman.

Once a fortnight, Fred Crawford drives his battered truck on the toughest mail run in the world - across sand dunes, salt pans and the fearsome Stony Desert. For the men and women of the remote cattle stations on the way, Fred's visit is a welcome diversion, especially when he brings a new nursing sister for the tiny mission hospital at Birdsville. But trouble also arrives.

The Middle East is notoriously complex and difficult. This compact book on the topic by the University of Oxford's leading expert does not shirk the challenge. Organised thematically, and dealing with all the pivotal issues in the region, from oil and religion to gender and conflict, this comprehensive primer is both easy-to-read and full of insight. Stuffed with historical background, real-life examples, profiles of key figures from Nasser to Gadaffi, and even popular jokes from the area.

They say no one from the convict settlement of Sydney Town crossed the steep ranges of the Blue Mountains until 1813. But the quick-witted convict Clancy Fitzgerald did it in 1798, dragging with him the proud - but reluctant - Eliza Philips. Faced with constant danger and wrenching isolation, Clancy and Eliza found themselves pale-skinned strangers in a land of ancient traditions and spiritual beliefs.

This is a must-listen for every parent with an adolescent daughter, It's an entertaining and informative audiobook from a leading authority on teenage behavior, Dr. Michael Carr-Gregg, who regularly appears on television. In this hard-hitting book, Michael Carr-Gregg focuses on the special trials of raising adolescent girls today: what to do when your previously quiet, loving daughter becomes a restless, rebellious stranger who behaves like a responsible adult one day and a vampish brat the next.

Van Diemen's Land was an island of stark contrasts; a harsh penal colony, an English idyll for its landed gentry, and an island so rich in natural resources it was a profiteer's paradise. Its capital Hobart Town had its contrasts too; the wealthy elite in their sandstone mansions, the exploited poor in the notorious slum known as Wapping, and the criminals and villains who haunted the dockside taverns and brothels of Sullivan's Cove.

Can't swim, can't dive, can't sail (I get seasick in the bath). Can't draw, can't tell left from right, can't play happy families, can't talk to girls. But whoopee, I'm a demon at ping-pong... Jessie Flood: a boy trying to figure out what he likes and where he fits in and how he feels about girls—or one particular girl. Just like any other teenage boy really.

In 1788, Thomas Kendall, a naïve 19-year-old sentenced to transportation for burglary, finds himself bound for Sydney Town and a new life in the wild and lawless land beneath the Southern Cross. Thomas fathers a dynasty that will last more than 200 years. His descendants play their part in the forging of a nation, but greed and prejudice see an irreparable rift in the family which will echo through the generations. It is only at the dawn of the new millennium - as an old journal lays bare a terrible secret - that the family can finally reclaim its honour....

Jonathon Bridge has the corner office, the tailored suits and the impeccable pedigree. He has a fascinating wife, a child on the way and a string of nubile lovers on the side. He's a man who's going places. His world is our world: the same chaos and sprawl, haves and have-nots, men and women, skyscrapers and billboards. But it also exists alongside a vast, self-sustaining city-state called The Fortress where the indigenous inhabitants - the Vaik - continue to live much as they have always done.

The Korean War was a 20th Century conflict that has never ended. South Korea, a powerhouse economy and dynamic democracy sits uneasily alongside North Korea, the world’s most secretive, belligerent, unpredictable and repressive totalitarian state. Today, tensions simmer and occasionally flare into outright violence on a peninsula dense with arms, munitions and nuclear warheads. Cameron Forbes, acclaimed author of Hellfire, tells the story of the war and Australia’s involvement in it in a riveting narrative.

A deeply divisive figure, Friedrich Nietzsche (1844–1900) remains an enigma to this day. Infamous for his startling assertion that "God is dead", he is often misrepresented. In this illuminating account of Nietzsche's life and work, Robert Wicks skilfully navigates the controversy that continues to surround one of today’s most famous but least understood thinkers. Exploring the impact of Nietzsche's Christian upbringing and his childhood on his beliefs, Wicks demonstrates that, far from being a nihilist, Nietzsche offers a positive and understanding of human nature.

Lydon Hall is a house full of character, as the estate agent's literature claims. But its many interesting features should surely not include a corpse in the elegant drawing-room? Is this death the suicide it appears to be? The investigation centres upon a tight-knit village community. Both the glamorous French widow of the deceased and the man who lives rough on the moor after a mental breakdown seem to know more about this death than is at first apparent.

Detective Inspector January David has always put his professional before his private life, but the two worlds are about to clash horrifically as he visits his latest crime scene. He is confronted by a lifeless figure suspended ten feet above a theatre stage, blood pouring from her face into a coffin below. This gruesome execution is the work of an elusive serial killer. Three women from three different London suburbs, each murdered with elaborate and chilling precision. And as January stares at the most beautiful corpse he's ever seen, he detects the killer's hallmark.

Yukin and his mate, Yulen, flee their campsite when Akcarum slave-traders attack. Unable to escape the Akcarum hunter birds, they are caught and transported to Quentaris. On their journey through the rift caves Yukin discovers a power that taps into the senses of insects and animals. But can it save them in time?

In the year 2010 after the Invasion of Heaven, human psychonauts trample the sacred fields of Heaven, and the angels retreat to higher altitudes to avoid the contamination of the physical. In the year 2050 the Millennial Wars have reduced the Earth to a devastated battleground. In the year 3000 the evil Humen are determined to destroy the power of Heaven, while the Residuals, a primitive race of people, live fearfully in the ruins of civilisation. In the midst of this hatred and fear is born a unique friendship that could change the course of history.

Two architects: Andrew Martin, a fêted young Australian whose success has come early, and Johannes Von Ruhland, an aging genius who draws with the hand of God but whose work has never been realised. When Martin finally meets the mythic Von Ruhland on a trip to Berlin, it is a dream fulfilled, but once that dream is brought back to Australia it jeopardises his marriage and divides his friends.

Two gypsy boys are fleeing through a war-ravaged countryside during the night, carrying a secret bundle. The boys stumble across a town that has been reduced to smoking rubble, and a zoo that is still intact. When the boys take shelter in the zoo, they discover a menagerie of talking animals. Both the boys and the animals tell their tales and speak of their desire for freedom. Like The Silver Donkey and The Ghost’s Child, this is another beautiful fable-like tale that will move you to tears.

Award-winning journalist and best-selling author Ian McPhedran takes us to the heart of the RAAF through personal accounts of fighter pilots’ bombing raids over Iraq, of hi-tech spy planes over Afghanistan, of the operational nerve centre of the Middle East war, and of the men and women who deliver humanitarian aid across the world. This is the compelling narrative, in the RAAF’s 90th year, of its aircraft, leadership, traditions, and personalities at a time of rapid change.

Berlin in autumn: Christine Starlight lives in an artists' colony with her lover Jude, whose patience and beauty have eased her battle with chronic pain. But Christine begins to be haunted by childhood recollections of a little girl's disappearance and the flapping of a blackbird's wings. Then her world is rocked by the return of a childhood friend... Mayfridh rules over a land where a wolf is the queen's counsellor, fate turns on the fall of an autumn leaf and mortals feel no pain.